Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid is set to appear on Fox Business at 7:30 a.m. US Eastern time on Thursday, in a high-profile television slot that comes during the same week his own regional bank is hosting the Federal Reserve's most closely watched annual gathering.

The Kansas City Fed's Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium runs from Thursday through Saturday at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, drawing around 120 central bankers, policymakers, economists and academics from more than 70 countries. Since the first symposium in 1978, the invitation-only retreat has periodically served as a stage for major policy signals: Ben Bernanke used his 2010 keynote to prepare the ground for a second round of bond purchases, Jerome Powell unveiled the Fed's average inflation targeting framework there in 2020, and in 2022 he warned from the same podium that reducing inflation would bring "pain" for households and businesses. This year's theme, Financial Innovation: Implications for Payments and Policy, focuses on developments in digital payments, central bank digital currencies and financial technology, and how they are reshaping monetary transmission and regulatory frameworks. That agenda is distinct from the immediate inflation debate dominating markets.

As host of the symposium, Schmid's Fox Business appearance offers one of the clearest opportunities this week for investors to hear directly from a sitting Fed official about the near-term policy outlook, even though the formal programme is focused further ahead. The interview also comes as Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh continues to withhold his own view on whether current inflation reflects temporary shocks or a more entrenched overheating problem, a stance he has defended as part of an effort to communicate less and avoid forecasts hardening into commitments, according to the Wall Street Journal. Warsh is due to speak at the symposium on Friday, and that address will be closely watched for any indication of where he ultimately comes down on the debate dividing his committee.

Schmid, who has led the Kansas City Fed since taking office in August 2023 after a long career in the Federal Reserve system, most notably at the Dallas Fed, has been one of the more hawkish voices on the Federal Open Market Committee this year. In early August, he told an audience in Omaha that inflation remains his primary concern, arguing that given the strength of demand and investment in the economy, current monetary policy should not be considered restrictive. He said bringing inflation back to the Fed's 2% target will require tighter policy rather than simply holding rates steady, according to Reuters and Bloomberg reporting on the speech.

He also pushed back against the idea that elevated inflation can be attributed mainly to a sequence of supply shocks, including tariffs and higher energy prices tied to the conflict in the Middle East. Schmid argued instead that inflation is fundamentally a function of the balance between supply and demand, and that persistent price pressures are unlikely without underlying demand remaining strong. He pointed to inflation excluding energy running at about 3.2% over the prior 12 months, roughly half a percentage point higher than the same period a year earlier, as evidence that price pressures extend beyond energy-related categories. While he acknowledged that a recent uptick in core inflation looked encouraging, he cautioned that it would be premature to draw firm conclusions from a single data point.

Thursday's Fox Business appearance will give Schmid a national platform to expand on, or potentially recalibrate, those views just as the symposium he hosts gets under way. Three FOMC members voted to raise rates at last month's meeting, the most dissents in a decade, while other officials have pointed to signs of softer consumer demand as reason for caution. Any fresh remarks from Schmid on the September meeting or on how he is weighing recent inflation and growth data are likely to be closely parsed by markets already focused on the uncertainty surrounding the Fed's next move.